wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Not exactly childs' play

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Note #8234 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04232
May 14, 2004

Not exactly childs' play

Child-care needs at Assembly produce an annual headache

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - Deb Davies has hired someone to care for the children of
participants in this summer's 216th General Assembly in Richmond, VA.

	Sort of.

	A day-care center at Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, about
four blocks from the convention-center site of the Assembly, is willing to
take in a few kids if necessary. If some of its regular clients pull their
kids out for summer vacations.

	Davies usually only has to find places for a handful of children, so
she thinks these 'fluid' arrangements may be sufficient. That's a relief,
because only seven weeks remain before the Assembly begins, and her options
are closing.

	Finding competent care for the children of commissioners, visitors
and staff isn't as simple as it sounds. For Davies - who also has to find
rooms for more than 1,000 guests, see that the sound system in the Assembly
hall works, make foreign visitors comfortable and take care of hundreds of
other details - making child-care arrangements is one of those details the
devil is in. And they can fall through at the last minute.

	"Our preference is to find an existing facility," Davies says,
pointing out that the days of informal, volunteer child care are over and
that licensed providers must be lined up, for safety reasons. The thorny part
is finding such a provider that can take only a few kids for only a few days.

	"The good child-care centers all have long waiting lists," she says,
"and few are able to guarantee that they'll take even a couple of kids at any
given time."

	Last year, Davies, an assistant stated clerk who serves as manager of
Assembly services, thought she had a fool-proof plan for child care on-site -
which would make it possible for parents to drop by and check on their
children, or to join a kid for lunch, rather than having to walk several
blocks or drive across town. The convention center in Denver was licensed by
the state and the city. It even had a mini-toilet especially for toddlers.

	While a number of families considered enrolling their children, there
were never more than a couple of kids in need of care. So, the provider
called the whole thing off, leaving a few Presbyterian parents in the lurch -
and Davies hastily throwing together a plan B.

	Plan B was workable, but the only available site was across town.
Parents weren't comfortable about putting small children in a van to be taken
to an unfamiliar facility miles away, and Davies, frankly didn't blame them.

	The Office of the General Assembly (OGA) discourages parents -
commissioners and staff alike - from bringing children to the denomination's
national gathering. In fact, in 1999, during a debate about whether the
Assembly ought to be more family-friendly, the Committee on the Office of the
General Assembly (COGA) said pointedly that the Assembly is a foremost a
business meeting with late night sessions and jam packed days - meaning that
it is not a place for kids.

	But what about the parents who choose to bring their children, or
have no choice but to come with kids in tow? How family-friendly should the
Assembly be? Should the denomination be responsible for providing child care,
whether two kids show up, or 20?

	"The arrangements have varied over the years, depending on what's
available at different Assembly sites," says Davies, who, often, ends up
working out the details with parents on a case-by-case-basis.

Sometimes a commissioner pays to bring a sitter along and pays for room and
board while the Assembly pays the daily child-care fees.

	"Parents get pretty creative" about working things out, she says. "In
fairness, sometimes parents say this is a chicken-and-egg-thing. They don't
bring their children, or don't get elected as commissioners, because of the
nature of the Assembly ... where child-care options are limited, at best."

	Making the Assembly more family-friendly would mean more than just
adding babysitters. It would also require changing the schedule allow for
more free time, and organizing activities for families with children.

	Kathleen A. Waters, the executive of Susequehanna Valley Presbytery,
would like to see such changes. The mother of two - a 9-year-old boy and a
4-year-old girl -would like a more family-friendly assembly. She travels a
lot in her work and doesn't like being away from her kids.

She thinks the Assembly should pay for child care for those who need it.

	OGA says a rough cost estimate would be $5680 to accommodate a
minimum number of 20 kids at any given time is about $4 per hour per child.
The total number of childcare hours needed for a commissioner attending every
business session would be about 71. But those figures are variable, given the
hourly costs or the number of 'paying' parents who might register to use it.

	The estimated costs for the Assembly this year in the per capita
budget is $1,750,000, so another $5,000 sounds like small potatoes.

	"True, the General Assembly is a business meeting," concedes Waters,
one of the parents left in the lurch last year when plan A folded. Unwilling
to bus her tiny daughter, Hannah, to a day care facility beyond walking
distance, she simply toted the child around, with a sign pinned to her shirt
complaining that the Assembly didn't put much priority on kids.

	"Thank God it wasn't the 'Year of the Child,'" she says now. "I know
it costs money. I know the GA can subsidize it."

	She says she's willing to kick in some money, and she suggests that
all families with kids ought to be put in the same hotel that might be
adapted to provide specialized services to meet their needs. She's bringing
her nine-year-old to Richmond and he'll be supervised by a babysitter - along
with two other girls - that several parents are paying to bring to the
Assembly to avoid the chaos of last year.

	However - even if subsidies come through - just as it's hard to find
a day-care facility willing to take kids for just a few days, it's also hard
to find licensed providers willing to work on site, Davies says, even when
that wouldn't run afoul of state regulations.

	Before 1992, child care was the responsibility of local host
committees, which rounded up volunteers to watch children while their parents
worshipped or worked.

	But increasing awareness of child abuse, stricter regulations and
sensitivity to liability issues have ended that practice, not just at the
national level, but in many local congregations. Licensing requirements vary
from state to state.

	"If we're going to provide child care," says Eric Graninger, the
PC(USA)'s general counsel, "it is going to be provided in a safe and
professional way. It is important that it be high-quality and safe." He feels
more comfortable with a local provider, rather than have the denomination
improvise on child care for a few national conferences a year.

	Which is why Davies spends hours on the phone, trying to find
solutions. What works for one set of parents doesn't suit another. And, as
the situation in Denver demonstrated, even the best-laid plans can fall
through at the last minute.

	"We do this on a case-by-case basis," she says. "It's difficult to
set hard and fast rules. It really does depend on the options the family
has."

	Reimbursement of child-care expenses runs about $30 a day, depending
on the market in the host city.

	PC(USA) staffers Jerry Van Marter and Eva Stimson, employees of the
Office of Communication, have hired the teenage daughter of another staff
person to supervise their twins, now 12, during Assembly meetings. The sitter
pockets the $30 per child per day fee, while her housing costs are paid by
her mother. Van Marter and Stimson pay for food for the sitter and the kids.

	"Some people don't have a choice about bringing their kids," says Van
Marter. "We don't." His and Stimson's children - Luke and Rachel Van Marter -
have attended every Assembly since they were born.

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